Thanks to Fr. Gil Martinez, CSP, the pastor; Xorje Olivares and everyone at “Out at St. Paul’s,” the LGBT outreach group at the parish; and everyone who came to the “Building a Bridge” event tonight.

Martinez is the Pastor at St. Paul the Apostle and the chaplain for Out at St. Paul. He had been an outspoken supporter of the group, specifically promoting the “Owning Our Faith” video series which was sponsored by Out at St. Paul and St. Paul the Apostle Parish. The videos feature testimonies from several Out At St. Paul members as well as “gay” and transgender advocates including dissident nun Jeannine Gramick who was officially sanctioned by the Vatican in 1999 and permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexuals and Warren Hall, a self-outed “gay” priest. Warren has since been suspended and in 2017 he wrote:

…I could not in good conscience take the Oath of Fidelity that all priests take upon ordination and when assuming a pastorate, namely, that I “accept and hold everything that is proposed by the hierarchy” and that I “adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings.”

Also included is an interview with a “gay” married couple, one of whom stated:

If we leave it, if we abandon the Church then it’s never going to change. So we have to continue living here, being an example and encouraging other people to be that example because that’s what’s going to change the Church.

And another “gay” man who said:

I think what’s interesting is that the Catholic Church probably thinks that it is accepting of gay people, because its message is ‘gay people exist and we should love them and not discriminate against them. But because the Church also tells gay people essentially that they need to be celibate, what the Church is saying is ‘you cannot live fully. You can be gay but you can’t live that life.’ And so that inherently is discriminatory.

Literally front and center in the “Owning Our Faith” promotional photos for the series is Xorje Olivares. A New York City based writer, blogger and radio host, Olivares is featured in both the “Owning Our Faith” documentary and in an extended interview. Olivares recently interviewed James Martin for Vice.com, was featured along with Martin in a segment of ABC’s “Nightline,” and he interviewed Martin for the July live-event at St. Paul the Apostle.

It’s what God wanted me to be. I’ve always felt that way. I’ve always felt that if God had wanted me to be straight then I would have been straight. If God wanted me to be gay then He chose for me to be gay.

He continued:

I’m not necessarily frustrated with the Catholic Church in terms of what they are saying with regards to LGBT people or just gay marriage as a whole because I think we as LGBT people need to understand that this is [a] several thousand year old institution and change is coming…We should ask other LGBT Catholics to understand that it’s just an education process. Once we tell that Church that we’re here then maybe conversation will be different…It’s a two-way street.

We’re still taking our first tentative steps. Before, you had to use coded words like “spectrum” or “welcome” when it came to LGBTQ outreach groups in parishes. Of course, in some dioceses and parishes, you can barely use terms like “gay” or “LGBTQ.” And others are pretty far along on the bridge already.

Writing about St. Paul the Apostle Parish, in an interview with Martin, Olivares wrote:

Thankfully, New York City affords my church gays and me the opportunity to live and pray as freely as we wish. And while we’re blessed to have a way of expressing our sexuality and spirituality, you’ll find no shortage of queer Catholics nationwide who fear persecution from their clergymen and congregations.

I never felt this call to be celibate. I was surrounded by straight people and all the good kids were going to church, but you knew they were having sex anyway. So why do they get a pass but people like me don’t? I thought, well if he said God created me this way, then what issue would be taken with however way I choose to express myself? Now that I’ve become part of the particular church group that I’m in, this conversation about how unrealistic it is for LGBTQ+ people to be called to the celibate life when no one else is adhering to that. Straight people within the church are trying to control our lives because they want to be able to control it and make our sexuality more palatable for them, but more difficult for us to actually live it.

Martin had contended that the Catholic Church treats sexually active homosexuals differently from heterosexuals who engage, for example, in premarital sex:

To focus only on LGBT people, without a similar focus on the moral and sexual behavior of straight people is, in the words of the Catechism, a “sign of unjust discrimination.”

According to Olivares’ Facebook page, he is currently “In Relationship” with another man.

Lord knows that I love dick… and He has for quite some time. In fact, it’s been His will for roughly 29 years that I should solely find members of my sex attractive, and engage in physical (and often deeply spiritual) relationships with them in hopes of finding love. Who am I, a God-fearing Catholic, to question that? Jesus said to love my neighbor, and I can’t help that Grindr says the nearest one is 264 feet away.

Grindr is a geosocial networking app catering to “gay” men designed to facilitate sexual encounters with other men in their area.

[Update: In August 2018, both James Martin and Xorje Olivares traveled to Dublin, Ireland for the World Meeting of Families where Martin is a Featured Speaker, addressing the LGBT issue. On August 20, 2018, Out at St. Paul posted the following to their Facebook account: “Say a prayer for OSP ministry team member Xorje Olivares and Fr. James Martin, SJ, who will both be traveling to the World Meeting of Families 2018 in Ireland to speak on LGBTQ Catholic experience and ministry.” On Olivares’ Facebook post announcing his departure for Dublin, Martin wrote: “See you there!”]

3 Comments

What I do not undestand is why these men still have their priestly facilites, and why this “nun” is still allowed to be known as a nun, as she certainly is not following the Church.

As if the Church does not have enough problems, dealing with the abuse scandles, now the Church has this scandle, which makes people think that wow, it is still going on. So disgusting, so terribly sad. These priests will have much to answer for, when they meet their maker.

Praing for all involved in this travesty and also for all those who are working tirelessly, getting the Church’s real teaching on all these disordes, while loving the person. Mercy is telling the truth to them, not coddling them by saying it is fine, you can love who you like. God wants you to be happy 🙁

Marcia
July 19, 2017 at 4:33 pm

Oh and l suppose God created people to be murderers, rapists, or thieves because He wanted them that way ! That excuse is stupid, asinine and ridiculous!
All traditionally married men and women are to remained faithful to one another
Priests, who are married to Christ’s bride the Church, and all single, widowed, and divorced are to remain celibate. God does not favor one group over another. Sin is sin whether one believes Satan’s lie or not! Believe a lie and damming your soul! I pray these men repent before it’s too late. The fires of Hell burn for all eternity!

Michael
August 22, 2018 at 5:16 pm

God exists outside of all time. If He condemns sodomy, as in destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah plus 3 other cities, restated in Deuteronomy and numerous other times, then His judgments are for all time. There is no “bringing the Church up to date “.
Yes, I am attracted to my same sex, but God has forbidden me to act on my sexual feelings. I must bear my cross and live a life of purity and chastity. I, a creature, have no “rights”. Only the right of obeying God; of keeping His commandments because I love Him.